Maryland Air National

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. presented combat awards yesterday to 16 members of Maryland's Air National Guard in a ceremony in Middle River. Dressed in a brown leather Air National Guard jacket, Ehrlich pinned medals to the lapels of each of the recipients - all of them members of the guard's 235th Civil Engineering Flight being honored for their service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war against terrorism. "You strike unique dignity every day in serving this country," Ehrlich told the honorees at the Warfield Air National Guard Base.

A Columbia couple were rescued uninjured by members of the Maryland Air National Guard yesterday morning after their single-engine plane crashed into a creek as it was taking off from Martin State Airport.Four members of the Guard's 175th Fighter Group based at Martin were conducting water survival training when the four-seat Piper Cherokee Arrow lost power and crashed in Frog Mortar Creek off Strawberry Point at 11:25 a.m."We were down on the beach when all of a sudden, we heard this noise," Lt. Col. Tommy O'Sullivan said in a statement released by the Guard.

Music, speeches and fireworks will mark the 14th annual Pause for the Pledge of Allegiance tonight at Fort McHenry.The evening's ceremonies will begin at 6:15 p.m., and will feature a parade of state flags, a flyover by the Maryland Air National Guard, the singing of the National Anthem by Baltimore-born opera star Melvin Lowery and fireworks about 9:15 p.m.The recitation of the Pledge will take place at 7 p.m., led by state and local officials, including Senators...

James John Struble, a retired telephone company technician, died of colon cancer Wednesday at his Ellicott City home. He was 70. Born in Uniontown Pa., he moved to Imla Street in Southeast Baltimore 1951 and was a 1956 graduate of Patterson Park High School. He served in the Maryland Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Squadron until 1963, then earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Baltimore. Mr. Struble began working for Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. in 1957.

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. said yesterday it won a contract to sell 10 additional transport aircraft to the U.S. Department of Defense.No purchase price for the aircraft was given. Officials at Lockheed Martin couldn't immediately be reached for comment.On Nov. 26, the Defense Department agreed to pay $650 million for 14 of Lockheed's C-130J aircraft.Four of the aircraft from the order announced yesterday will go to the Maryland Air National Guard and two will be used to track storms from Mississippi.

A New Windsor man who was found guilty in June of growing marijuana was granted probation before judgment yesterday and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.George E. Sinnott, 51, of the 1500 block of Old New Windsor Road was arrested in July 1998 after a state trooper flying with a Maryland Air National Guard marijuana eradication detail saw 63 marijuana plants growing in six pots outside Sinnott's home, according to court documents.Sinnott and his wife, Cynthia, 46, have settled a forfeiture case in federal court, "effectively paying $30,000 ransom" to keep possession of their home, Charles O. Fisher Jr., Sinnott's attorney, told Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. In January, Cynthia Sinnott was granted probation before judgment for possessing marijuana, court records show.

Gustav C. Biedermann, a retired educator and model train collector, died of cancer Friday at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. The Jarrettsville resident was 69. Mr. Biedermann was born in Baltimore and raised in Overlea. He was a 1959 graduate of Parkville Senior High School. During the 1950s, he served with the Maryland Air National Guard. Before going into teaching, he owned Biedermann's Cities Service, later Biedermann's Citgo, in Perry Hall during the 1960s. In 1970, he joined the faculty of Eastern Vocational Technical High School as an automotive teacher.

Free coats, 18,000 of them, will be given out at 16 fire stations in Baltimore through Saturday.This WBAL Radio Coats for Kids Project, which collected 3,000 more coats this year than last, is also sponsored by the Dry Cleaners Association of Maryland whose members repaired and cleaned the coats; by the Maryland Air National Guard's Chapter 94, Non-commissioned Officer Graduates Association,which sorted and organized the coats, and by the Baltimore City...

State Trooper of the Year named Maryland State Police Trooper 1st Class Justin M. Gross of the Bel Air barracks was recently named the State Trooper of the Year. Gross joined the state police in 2004 after serving four years in the U.S. Air Force and one year in the Maryland Air National Guard. He served at the Glen Burnie and Golden Ring barracks before transferring to Bel Air in 2006. In 2007, he issued more than 930 traffic citations and warnings, leading all troopers at the Bel Air barracks in traffic enforcement.

The drastic cuts to Maryland's Air National Guard are the tip of the iceberg of canceled national security programs and massive layoffs if Congress fails to stop an additional $600 billion in defense cuts, on top of the cuts by President Barack Obama that Gov.Martin O'Malley says already go far too far ("O'Malley, governors oppose Air National Guard cuts," Feb. 28). The full impact of a trillion dollars of defense cuts is uncertain, but experts predict: •Cancellation of all new aircraft programs, including much-needed fighter jets and bombers to replace those worn-out by decades of use; •Delayed strategic force improvements, while Russia and China modernize theirs; •Shortage of intelligence drones to keep tabs on international terrorists; •The lowest level of our ground forces in many decades; and •As many as 1.5 million lost jobs including more than 37,000 in Maryland - the national unemployment rate could shoot up close to 10 percent again.